List of mass stabbings in Germany

This is an incomplete list of mass stabbings in Germany. The casualty figures of mass stabbings below include violence-related deaths and injuries with a knife, hatchet and spear respectively, casualty inflicted by legal intervention (i.e., deaths caused by law enforcement and other persons with legal authority to use deadly force acting in the line of duty), as well as suicide. As there is no single, widely accepted definition for how many casualties consitutes a mass stabbing, this article follows the general trend of attacks requiring four or more victims being stabbed.[1]

Background on crime statistics

The list is incomplete, because no federal statistics on all stabbings in Germany are available (unlike for example in the United States, FBI Crime statistics).[2]

The Federal Criminal Police Office started to track solely knife attacks in 2020 and knife attacks are defined as either mere threats with a knife or the actual attacks.[3]: 15 

Data from the police crime statistics of individual German states show, that in several states the number of stabbings increased from 2013 to 2018 by over 30%.[4] In 2020 alone, there were at least 100 deaths from nearly 20,000 knife attacks. A large proportion of the crimes are related to domestic violence.[5] The overall number of incidents of intentional simple bodily harm increased by 7.4% from 399,699 in 2022 to 429,157 in 2023. The number of non-German suspects increased more (13%) than the number of German suspects (4%). The highest increase of 20% was in immigrants in Germany, even though they perpetrated only 31.830 out of the 430,000 attacks.[3]: 15 

As far as knife attacks are concerned: In 2023, 8,951 cases or 5.8 percent of acts of serious bodily harm (assault) were recorded as "knife attack", a rise in absolute numbers but roughly the same proportion as in 2022 (5.6 percent, altogether 8,160 cases). In 2023, 4,893 cases or 10.9 percent of robberies/theft were knife attacks, an increase in absolute numbers, but an unchanged proportion compared to 2022, with 11.0 percent (4,195 cases).[3]: 15 

There is evidence that severe injuries have doubled from 2014 to 2023, per the statistics of the trauma registry of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Unfallchirurgie (German Association for Trauma Surgery): From 2014 to 2023, 4,917 people with severe knife stab injuries were admitted to German hospitals out of a total of 212,628 admissions to an ICU due to serious injuries. Here, the overall proportion of knife injuries increased sharply from 2014 to 2023, from just under 2 to over 3 %, even though since 2018, patients have to give their written consent in order to be included in the statistics (which caused a high number of unreported cases).[6]

1920s and earlier

Date Location Dead Injured Total Description
4 September 1913 Degerloch, Württemberg 5 0 5 39-year-old Ernst August Wagner killed his wife and 4 children by cutting their throat and chest with a blackjack and dagger. He had paranoia and feared that townsfolk would discover his past acts of bestiality. Hours later he shot 20 people, killing nine.[7]
6 June 1925 Lindenberg, Thuringia, and Hassenberg, Bavaria 9 1 10

30-year-old Wilhelm Brückner killed nine family members with an axe and a kitchen knife and afterwards himself. He was previously recorded for mental disability and had an interest in murder cases.[8]

1960s

Date Location Dead Injured Total Description
11 June 1964 Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia 11 22 33 57-year-old Walter Seifert attacked a Catholic elementary school with a home-made flamethrower and a spear, killing eight pupils and two teachers, afterwards himself. Was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 1954.[9]
14 December 1968 Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg 2 5 7 A Yugoslav guest worker stabbed seven people, killing two, at his guest home. He was killed by police gunfire.[10]

1980s

Date Location Dead Injured Total Description
8 August 1989 Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg 2 3 5 A 48-year-old Cameroonian failed asylum seeker stabbed five police officers with a bayonet, killing two, before being shot dead by wounded officers. He had been on the run for assaulting a tram employee a few hours earlier.[11]

1990s

Date Location Dead Injured Total Description
13 August 1999 Uelzen, Lower Saxony 2 2 4 A convicted murderer fatally stabbed the deputy director of a prison and a chef and wounded two other prison officials before killing himself.[12]

2000s

Date Location Dead Injured Total Description
16 September 2003 Pforzheim, Baden-Württemberg 1 3 4 A 24-year-old man killed one person and wounded three others with a sword at a mail-order company. He was an alcoholic and presented misanthropy as the motive.[13]
3 April 2005 Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg 1 3 4 A 25-year-old man stabbed four people with a sword, killing one, during a Tamil Christian church service. He had been in previous conflict with the church over claims that he heard the voice of God.[14]

2010s

Date Location Dead Injured Total Description
17 October 2015 Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia 0 5 5 A 44-year-old man stabbed mayoral candidate Henriette Reker into the neck at a political information stand in the city, injuring four others. He was a far-right activist who disagreed with Reker's refugee policies.[15]
10 May 2016 Grafing, Bavaria, 1 3 4 A 27-year-old man stabbed four men, killing one, at a train station. Initial hints towards an Islamist background were widely shared online until police identified the man as a schizophrenic with no migrant background.[16]
18 July 2016 between Treuchtlingen and Würzburg, Bavaria 1 (perpetrator) 5 6 A 17-year-old Afghan refugee wanted to avenge the death of a friend in Afghanistan. He had been in contact with the Islamic State.[17]
9 March 2017 Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia 0 10 10 A 36-year-old Kosovar asylum seeker, who had arrived in Germany in 2009 and was considered mentally ill attacked nine fellow passengers with an axe aboard a train. He jumped from a nearby bridge while attempting to escape capture, injuring himself severely. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.[18]
28 July 2017 Barmbek area of Hamburg 1 6 7 26-year-old Ahmad Alhaw, a Palestinian failed asylum seeker took a 20 cm-long kitchen knife from a supermarket shelf to attack several people, killing one. He was known to have had contacts with Salafists, and had psychological and drug problems.[19]
21 October 2017 Munich, Bavaria 0 8 8 34-year-old Patrick H., asked random passers-by if they are clairvoyant and then attacked with a 9 cm-long knife. He was labeled as schizophrenic and was placed in a closed psychiatric clinic.[20]
20 July 2018 Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein 0 10 10 A 34-year old Iranian-born German man attacked 10 people in a bus in Lübeck with a kitchen knife. He had paranoid schizophrenia.[21]

2020s

Date Location Dead Injured Total Description
25 June 2021 Würzburg, Bavaria 3 8 11 A 24-year-old Somali aylum seeker killed three customers at a Woolworth store and wounded seven others. He was cornered by passersby and shot in the leg by police. Initial hints towards an Islamist background were discarded following an investigation, which was followed by a schizophrenia diagnosis while in custody.[22]
25 January 2023 Brokstedt, Schleswig-Holstein 2 7 9

A 33-year-old Palestinian man stabbed nine people on a moving passenger train, killing two. He had a history of drug abuse and was recently released from a jail sentence.[23]

22 February 2024 Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia 0 5 (including the perpetrator) 5 A 17-year-old male student at the Wilhelm-Dörpfeld secondary school went into the school armed with a knife and a pair of scissors and stabbed multiple pupils and one teacher. A motive was not determined, though the student was judged to have diminished responsibility.[24]
31 May 2024 Mannheim 1 6 (including the perpetrator) 7 A 25-year-old Afghan refugee stabbed six people during an anti-Islam rally, killing an intervening police officer. He had becoming a follower of online Islamist groups and was targeting a speaker at the rally.[25]
15 June 2024 Wolmirstedt, Saxony-Anhalt 2 (including the perpetrator) 3 4 An Afghan man stabbed a man to death, then ran into an UEFA Euro 2024 watch party and injured three people before being shot and killed by police. The initial victim was a fellow Afghan, with political or religious motives, as well as drug use, being ruled out.[26]
23 August 2024 Solingen, North Rhine-Westphalia 3 8 11 A 26-year-old Syrian refugee stabbed 11 people (three of whom died) during a festival. He had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, which claimed the attack.[27]
31 August 2024 Siegen, North Rhine-Westphalia 0 6 6 A 32-year-old woman stabbed and injured six people on a bus. She was subdued by other passengers. She had untreated mental health issues and stated that the stabbing was meant to attract attention to her latest rejection for a therapy request.[28]
22 January 2025 Aschaffenburg, Bavaria 2 3 5 A 28-year-old Afghan man attacked people in Schöntal Park, killing a man and a toddler. Two adults were injured when they tried to stop the attacker. A two-year-old girl was also injured in the attack. He had schizophrenia and stated that voices commanded him to kill children.[29]
18 May 2025 Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia 0 4 4 A Syrian man stabbed five people during a watch party outside a bar. He had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.[30]
23 May 2025 Altstadt, Hamburg 0 15 15 A woman stabbed fifteen people at the central train station, with four having life-threatening injuries and another three having heavy injuries. She had schizophrenia and was released from a psychiatric hospital day before.[31]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Amman, Molly; Burnette, Anna Grace; Crowley, Brittany (2022). "A Review of Mass Stabbing Attacks Between 2004 and 2017". Journal of Threat Assessment and Management. 9 (2): 111–128. doi:10.1037/tam0000177. ISSN 2169-4842.
  2. ↑ "FBI Crime Data Explorer(CDE)". cde.ucr.cjis.gov. 21 February 2025. Archived from the original on 17 February 2025. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 Bundesministerium des Innern und für Heimat (2024). "Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik 2023. Ausgewählte Zahlen im Überblick" (PDF). Bundesministerium des Innern und für Heimat.
  4. ↑ Schmid, Anna (12 December 2019). "Anstieg um 32 Prozent: Statistiken verraten, wo es am meisten Messerangriffe gibt". Focus. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  5. ↑ "Fast 20.000 Messerangriffe in einem Jahr in Deutschland". Die Welt (in German). 21 November 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  6. ↑ Giwerzew, Nathan (20 August 2024). "NZZ-Recherche: Zahl schwerer Stichverletzungen in Deutschland stark gestiegen". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in Swiss High German). ISSN 0376-6829. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  7. ↑ Katja Wagner Vom grausamen Mörder zum Dichter Archived 2009-09-15 at the Wayback Machine, 30. April 2005 in der Ludwigsburger KreiszeitungLandesarchiv Baden-Württemberg (May 2, 2005)
  8. ↑ Die Beerdigung der Opfer des Hassenberger Massenmörders, Coburger_Zeitung (11 June 1925)
  9. ↑ "Bruno Kassel: Der Mann, der den ersten Schulamoklauf überlebte". DIE WELT (in German). 9 March 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  10. ↑ "Amoklauf eines Geistesgestörten". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). 16 December 1968. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  11. ↑ "True Crime in Stuttgart: 15 tödliche Sekunden auf der Gaisburger Brücke". Stuttgarter Zeitung (in German). 11 February 2022.
  12. ↑ Geisler, Bob (2 August 2000). "Die tiefen Spuren einer Bluttat". Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). Retrieved 30 May 2025.
  13. ↑ "Angeklagter bedauerte seine Taten unter Tränen: Lebenslänglich für Amokläufer gefordert". RP ONLINE (in German). 22 April 2004.
  14. ↑ "True Crime in Stuttgart: Tödliche Schwerthiebe im Gotteshaus". Stuttgarter Zeitung (in German). 30 January 2022.
  15. ↑ "Attentat in Köln - Als Henriette Reker von einem Rechtsextremen niedergestochen wurde". Deutschlandfunk (in German). 17 October 2025.
  16. ↑ Eisenberger, Korbinian (17 August 2017). "Messerattacke von Grafing: Angreifer muss in geschlossene Psychiatrie". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  17. ↑ Hack, Jens (19 July 2016). "German train ax attack puts Merkel migrant policy back in spotlight". Reuters. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  18. ↑ Kannegießer, Wulf (5 October 2017). "Axt-Angreifer kommt dauerhaft in geschlossene Psychiatrie" [axe attacker to be permanently housed in lock-ward psychiatry]. Rheinische Post Online (in German). Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  19. ↑ "1 dead, 6 injured after knife attack at supermarket". abcnews.com. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  20. ↑ Salch, Andreas (30 August 2018). "Prozess um Messerangriff : "Hau' ab, sonst stech' ich dein Kind ab"". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 25 August 2024.
  21. ↑ "Lübeck: Angriff in Linienbus - 34-Jähriger muss in die Psychiatrie". Der Spiegel (in German). 8 March 2019. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  22. ↑ "Attentat von Würzburg: Gutachter halten Messerstecher für schuldunfähig". Der Spiegel (in German). 22 October 2021. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
  23. ↑ "Messerattacke in Brokstedt: Lebenslange Haft für Ibrahim A." ZDFheute (in German). 15 May 2024. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  24. ↑ "Messerstiche in Gymnasium: Mordversuch-Urteil rechtskräftig". Süddeutsche.de (in German). 8 May 2025.
  25. ↑ "Lebenslang nach tödlichem Angriff auf Polizisten in Mannheim". BR24 (in German). 16 September 2025. Retrieved 26 June 2026.
  26. ↑ Lukas, Julius. "Zehn Tage nach der Attacke mit zwei Toten in Wolmirstedt - Motiv und Waffe bleiben unklar". Mitteldeutsche Zeitung (in German).
  27. ↑ "BGH: Verurteilung von Solingen-Attentäter rechtskräftig". Legal Tribune Online (in German). 22 May 2026.
  28. ↑ Petrovic, Olga (29 April 2025). "Vier Menschen haben in Siegen eine mutmaßliche Attentäterin gestoppt: Jetzt gab's ein "Danke"!". WDR (in German).
  29. ↑ "Gutachter zu Messerangreifer: "Massiv denkgestörter Mensch"". BR24 (in German). 30 October 2025. Retrieved 30 October 2025.
  30. ↑ "Höchststrafe für Terroranschlag von Bielefeld". BR24 (in German). 1 June 2026.
  31. ↑ "Hamburg: Messerangreiferin vom Hauptbahnhof muss in die forensische Psychiatrie". Der Spiegel (in German). 26 January 2026. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 26 January 2026.
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